


(made you) smile and look away

by mermaiddrunk



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, soulmates (sorta?)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22013476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermaiddrunk/pseuds/mermaiddrunk
Summary: “So let me get this straight.” Qrow assesses the room. “You two,” he points to Blake and Yang, “will pretend to be a couple in the hopes of finding out what happened to your other friends who went in there pretending to be a couple. You two,” he points to Ruby and Jaune, “will infiltrate this establishment as the help.” Ruby and Jaune nod comically. “And you,” he looks at Weiss, “will go as an ambassador for a Dust company and aid with back-up.”He looks around the room, and everyone nods. “Well, okay then."
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 21
Kudos: 264





	1. One.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lescousinsdangereux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lescousinsdangereux/gifts).



> For Cuz, who deserves only the best and was stuck with me. I'm sorry it is 5000 years late. Please accept this humble gift. 
> 
> Also, please disregard all and any timeline/continuity nonsense. This was started pre-vol 7 and I stubbornly left it that way.

The window glass is cold against Blake’s cheek as she presses against it, as if she’s hoping to somehow push through to the other side, away from the noise and the voices. She’s tired. The kind of tired that wraps around your bones and twists until you’re heavy with it. She wonders how long she would sleep for if the world was not crumbling down around them. There’s a crash outside and her ears twitch towards the sound. She looks up to the darkening sky as the wind batters against the carcasses of the airships. Another rainy night in Mantle. 

“I still say we go in there, guns ablazin’. Catch ‘em unawares.” Yang’s voice pulls her from the storm outside and forces her attention back into the room. It’s significantly warmer and brighter inside. Sometimes Blake forgets that she isn’t out there in the storm. 

Her teammates, her _friends_ , sit in a sort of half circle, sprawled out on the couch (Yang), pacing the room (Weiss) and lying on the floor with her knees to the ceiling (Ruby). Jaune and Oscar are here too. Qrow’s leaning against one of the pillars and Blake can’t tell if it’s because he’s drunk, bored, or a combination of the two.

“They won’t know what hit them!” Yang leans forward, forearms on her thighs. Her eyes are intense as they dart around the room, willing the others into action. She’s beautiful like this—all fire and ferocity. There’s an energy that ripples through her; it extends out and ebbs against Blake’s skin. She is suddenly acutely present, painfully aware. It’s not the most appropriate time to be appreciating Yang’s external qualities, Blake knows, but she also knows that there’s never an appropriate time for anything anymore. 

“Look,” Qrow pushes himself off the wall. “I’m always up for blazing guns, you know that, but I think the kid has a point. We don’t know what the situation is.” He looks at Oscar, who offers him a weak smile. It was Ozpin, not Oscar, who proposed the idea, and Blake can tell that he feels awkward being placed in this leadership role. She doesn’t blame him. He’s just a kid. 

“I, uh,” Ruby sits up, cross-legged and turns to look at Yang in apology. “I think I agree with Uncle Qrow and Oscar, uh...Ozpin...Ozcar?” She pauses for a moment, wrapping her brain around the options she’s just presented to herself. “Anyway, I think we should go the sneaky route. At least until we have a better idea of what’s going on in there.”

“Nora did say they were okay,” Jaune adds. He reaches for his scroll and reads the message they’ve all seen a dozen times by now. “This place is crazy shady! Free margaritas, though! Yay! But also, maybe send back-up.” 

“Shady!” Yang throws her hands up. “See? And that was a day ago. They should have checked in by now.” Blake’s body tenses as she watches Yang. The urge to go up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, to soothe that fire is overwhelming. The urge to touch Yang in general is becoming harder and harder to ignore. 

“I--I’m not wild about it either, you know.” Jaune looks from his scroll to Yang. “But I think we need to trust them. Another day at least.” 

“Right.” Weiss sighs, straightens her back and crosses her arms over her chest in a move that is so perfectly Weiss that Blake almost smiles. There’s comfort in the familiar. “We still don’t _know_ anything.”

“Here’s what we do know,” Oscar speaks up in a voice that sounds eerily like their old headmaster’s. “The Shimmer Couples Resort has been offering discounted stays for Huntsman and Huntress couples, promising a much needed retreat from the outside world. Beacon alum Hana Bladesure and her husband Tomas Klade, also a Huntsman, were last seen entering the resort a few weeks back. They were supposed to meet up with Qrow last week.”

“Bladesure’s never been late in her goddamn life. I should know. I had classes with her.” Qrow takes a swig from his flask and grunts when he finds it empty. 

“There are rumors that they aren’t the first Huntsman pair to go missing,” Oz continues. “In a place like Atlas, these aren’t rumours that anyone’s going to follow up on. Not with the military so focused on imminent war.”

“So, it’s up to us,” Yang says.

“And that’s why we sent Ren and Nora in.” Ruby bounces in her seat, like she’s just given the right answer in class.

“Yes, Miss Rose,” Ozpin as Oscar confirms. “And it seems that your friends may have found themselves in a spot of trouble. The problem is, with their scrolls off, we have no idea where they are, or if they do in fact require our help.” 

“All the more reason to practice caution,” Weiss insists.

“All the more reason to get in there as soon as possible,” Yang counters. 

They go round and round like this for a few more minutes. Blake watches Yang get increasingly frustrated by the idea of leaving their friends to whatever big bad is happening at the Shimmer Couples Resort. But Weiss and Ruby and Qrow and Oz...car have a point. And so Blake, for absolutely no reason other than the fact that she can’t see a way around it, says, “Yang and I could go in.”

Weiss, whose mouth is open in mid-protest, shuts it immediately. Six pairs of eyes dart in Blake’s direction and she resists the urge to slink back against the window seat. “Isn’t that what what we need? Another couple to go in and check on Ren and Nora and to find out what’s happened to the other couples.”

“Ah...” Yang begins, and Blake looks at her. There’s a question in her eyes that Blake wishes she knew the answer to. 

She shrugs and faces the others. “So, why don’t Yang and I go?”

“Or…”Jaune raises his finger in protest. “Weiss and I could…”

“Ew. No.” Weiss blurts out before catching herself. “I mean.” She turns to Jaune and gently, with a sweet, practiced expression. “Ew. No.”

“I like Blake’s idea.” Ruby smiles at Blake before directing a very different sort of smile at Yang. 

“So,” Weiss begins. “Blake and Yang will go undercover as a couple.” She looks pointedly at Yang. “At least we won’t have to rely too heavily on your acting skills.”

Ruby titters, holding her the back of her hand to her mouth. 

“Yeah, yeah okay.” Yang stretches her arms out in front of her, uncertainty replaced with that ever-present bravado. “We could totally do it. And if it all goes to shit, I get to punch something.” She looks back at Blake and smiles, wide and unaffected. “How hard can it be, right?”

Blake swallows, and nods, hoping she sounds more confident than she feels. “Right.”

Weiss looks between them for a moment before clapping her hands together. “Lovely. So you two will do...whatever it is couples do at this thing. We’ll sort out the specifics of your backstory later.”

Blake’s eyes are still on Yang, whose expression softens, but doesn’t dim. Blake can feel it all the way in the pit of her stomach, warm and fluttery. She smiles back. 

“Since the company is a sponsor, I’ll offer my services as a guest speaker on behalf of the Schnee Dust Company and Ruby…” Ruby looks at her expectantly. “You and Jaune can be waitstaff.”

“What?” Jaune pulls a face. 

“Waitstaff?” Ruby echoes quietly. “You mean like one of the servers?” She jumps to her feet. “Oh my god! I’ve always wanted to wear one of those little waitress outfits with the apron and the, the little hat.”

No one has the heart to tell her she probably won’t be dressing up as a diner waitress at one of Atlas’s most prestigious social clubs.

“And, and I can walk around with a tray!” She leans down towards Yang, her palm upturned as if holding a tray. “Hors d'oeuvre, ma’am?” Yang snorts and bats her sister’s hand away. 

“So let me get this straight.” Qrow assesses the room. “You two,” he points to Blake and Yang, “will pretend to be a couple in the hopes of finding out what happened to your other friends who went in there pretending to be a couple. You two,” he points to Ruby and Jaune, “will infiltrate this establishment as the help.” Ruby and Jaune nod comically. “And you,” he looks at Weiss, “will go as an ambassador for a Dust company and aid with back-up.” 

He looks around the room, and everyone nods. “Well, okay then. Now that that’s all sorted, I need a drink. Oz, care to join me?”

He walks out with Oscar running behind him, trying to explain that he’s still too young to enter a bar. 

___

It’s after midnight by the time they finally settle in for the night. After being stuck in a cramped, two-bedroom apartment in the military compound after their arrival, Weiss eventually pulled the few strings she had left and upgraded their lodgings. Although, as Blake trudges through the dark hallway towards her room, she wonders if “upgraded” is really the word to use. 

What they were told was some fancy gated community ended up being an abandoned retirement home that smells like mothballs and old people. Blake gets the sense that Weiss’s strings aren’t as far-reaching as they used to be. 

Still, it’s got electricity, running water, and it’s better than being stuck between Weiss’s knees and Ruby’s elbows. Somehow, in those first few days, it had worked out that she and Yang were constantly on opposite sides of the room. Which...well, Blake didn’t care, not really. She was just used to being near Yang when they were all together. Comfort in familiarity, she thinks again. And really, there is so little of it. Blake runs her hand through her hair and is still surprised when it ends so abruptly. Her mother would tell her that her reaction to the lack of familiarity is to control that which she can change. She’d argue that she just wanted a haircut. She’s still not sure if she likes it or not, but she likes the way it makes her feel. And, she likes the way it makes Yang look at her. 

She rounds the corner to her room (they all have their own rooms now, even though they still spend most of their time in the common areas) and stops at the doorway to Ruby’s. When they had first arrived, Ruby suggested staying together, like they did at Beacon, but the rooms were small and each had only two single beds and it seemed weird for only two people to share when there were enough (shitty) bedrooms for everyone. 

Blake’s about to walk by, but then she’s startled by Ruby’s breathless exclamation of, “Well, then just _tell_ her and stop being such a wuss about it.”

“A wuss? Oh, now you’ve gone and done it, sis. Prepare for—”

Blake takes a step into the room, breaking up what would have inevitably been some sort of scuffle, most likely involving pillows and tickling and possibly a headlock. Both Ruby and Yang, jump up and fix Blake with identical expressions, the picture of innocence. 

“Ah, hey Blake.” Yang clears her throat and her smile widens to the point where her eyes are just little lilac slits. “Whatcha doing?” 

“Standing here. Watching you.” Blake looks between her and Ruby. “What were you talking about?”

“Nothing!” Ruby says quickly. “I mean, Yang’s being a wuss.” She ducks out of the way to avoid being swatted. “She’s too scared to tell…Weiss that she…smells.” 

“Uh-huh.”

Yang nods, her face serious. “Yeah, it’s like hot garbage met a… manure field?” It ends in something like a question, but she’s committing to the story. 

Blake leans against the door frame, thoroughly amused now. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“It comes and goes,” Ruby pipes up. “And Yang’s too scared to tell her, cause she thinks it might mess everything up and that Weiss might not feel the same way about...her smell.” 

Yang groans and slaps her hand over her forehead.

Blake laughs because they’re so ridiculous and also, because she’s not an idiot, something in her chest flutters like crazy. “Well, I’d probably keep it to myself if I were you. Weiss can be…”

“What?”

They all turn to see Weiss come up behind Blake, her arms over her chest, her eyebrows raised. “Weiss can be what?”

“Amazing,” Ruby bats her eyes at Weiss. “And...super fashionable. And, and the best partner ever.”

“And definitely not smelly,” Yang adds, grinning.

Weiss looks from Ruby to Yang to Blake and then shrugs. “Those things are all true, yes.”

“Okay, so I guess we should probably hit the hay,” Yang begins, inching out of the room. 

“You aren’t going anywhere,” Weiss states, as she waltzes past her and settles on the edge of Ruby’s bed. She grimaces slightly and Blake wonders if she’s going to start her rant about the quality of the polyester blend blankets again. Instead, Weiss fixes them with a stare. “At least not until we’ve worked on your story.”

“Our story?” Blake echoes.

“Yes! If you’re going to be parading around a couples resort, you’re going to meet other couples and there’s nothing couples love more than talking about how they got together. It’s very irritating.”

Yang bounds back into the room and flops down on the other bed. “So we need a story. No problem.”

She looks at Blake and wriggles her eyebrows. It’s easy to sigh and roll her eyes and try to douse that flare of heat in the pit of her stomach. But the magnetic pull that Yang exerts when she smiles is impossible to ignore and she goes over to sit on the bed, knocking her hips against Yang’s bare feet. 

“Well?” Weiss looks at Yang expectantly. “What is it?”

“Obviously we met at Beacon and Blake was bowled over by my hot bod and roguish charms. I mean,” Yang winks at Weiss, “Can we really blame her?”

Weiss makes a gagging noise. Ruby laughs and Blake scoffs, “Ugh. You wish.” 

“Honestly, Yang,” Weiss huffs, “It’s like you’re not even trying. You have to have an element of truth. It’s the basis of every good lie.”

Yang pouts dramatically. “You’re saying my bod is not hot and my charms are not roguish?” She brings a hand to her chest. “You wound me, Weiss.”

“She’s saying,” Blake tries not to laugh, “That you can’t just grin and wink your way through this.” Although, if Blake’s honest with herself, she can’t imagine why not. She’s seen enough people driven to distraction by a Yang Xiao Long smile. 

“Ooh, ooh. I know!” Ruby holds her hands up in excitement. “What if you met while Yang was on an undercover mission to stop a bomb from going off somewhere in the city and Blake was the target of an assassination attempt, and Yang you totally saved her, except then you found out she was the daughter of your enemy and—”

“Wait,” Yang cuts her off. “Are you just rehashing the plot of _A Spy in My Garden_?”

Ruby shrugs. “It was a great movie!”

Yang hums in agreement. 

“Oh my god,” Weiss groans. “None of you have any concept of subtlety.” 

“What if we kept it simple?” Blake looks at Yang. Her heart begins a heavy, steady beat that she can feel in her chest, her throat, her fingertips. “Let’s say we met at Beacon.”

“And you were bowled over by my—”

“ _And_ we became teammates and partners and... _friends_.” She looks at the others meaningfully, eliciting a soft expression from Weiss. “And then…” Blake can feel the heavy _bum-bum-bum_ of her heart and she swallows. “And then, then my worst fears came true and Beacon fell apart and I…” she looks down at her hands and realises she’s been clenching them. 

“It’s okay,” Ruby says softly. “We don’t have to...”

“No, it’s fine. Like Weiss said, there’s got to be a bit of truth.” She uncurls her fingers. “So then I left. And, I… I missed you all.” Her eyes flick up for just a moment, assessing their faces. Weiss looks stricken, Ruby looks like she might cry. Blake doesn’t look at Yang. “And while I was away I realised just how much you all meant to me, and especially how much Yang...meant to me. And,” she shifts her hips slightly, nudging against Yang’s foot. “Missing Yang was like this ache that wouldn’t go away no matter how far I ran.” She bites down on her bottom lip for a moment, her head noisy with the sound of her heartbeat. “And then I came back and it was like everything just fit. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. And in some ways it was like we were always together and we...I mean Yang and I...well, I guess I was finally bowled over by your hot bod and roguish charms.”

When she does look at Yang, she’s expecting that careless grin, but Yang’s face is still and quiet and Blake panics. “I, uh, I figured that would probably be the best way to tell it.”

“It’s perfect,” Yang finally says. Her voice is soft and low and that ever-present tug forces Blake lean forward just a little bit. 

“Yeah?”

Yang nods and slowly, like the constant and steady sunrise, that smile warms her face until she’s grinning. “It’s fucking awesome.”

“I’m confused…” Ruby looks between Blake and Yang. “What just happened?”

“They just found their story.,” Weiss says with a wistful sigh and then immediately clears her throat. “Well, I think that’s...acceptable.”

Blake wants to reply to Weiss but she can’t tear her eyes away from Yang. “We should probably go to bed,” Blake finally manages, and then balks and she can feel herself blushing. “Separately. To bed. Our own beds.” She blinks and looks at the others. “Right?”

“Right,” Weiss’s eyes are narrowed as she watches Blake and Yang.

“Unless Yang wants to add more to the story?” Ruby looks at Yang hopefully. “Like maybe you should go over all the squishy feelings you had when Blake came back. Or, or…”

“Cool!” Yang hops off the bed, managing to brush against Blake’s shoulder as she does. “Time for bed!"

“But we’re not done talking!” Ruby whines and Yang presses a messy kiss to the top of her head.

“Yes, we are.” She salutes them all before disappearing out of the hallway.

“I should get some sleep too.” Blake stands and Weiss frowns. 

“I thought that perhaps we could...talk. About things, now that certain people are not here.”

“I think I’m good,” Blake smiles at them. “Goodnight, guys.”

“Don’t worry, Weiss,” Ruby pats her bed as Blake backs out of the room. “We can totally bond. I’ve finally managed to get Bloodkill VI on my scroll and it’s awesome. You probably won’t be as good as me in the beginning, but that’s okay. I’ll show you the basic moves like stealthcut and hammerblade and...” She trails off with a bunch of words that are definitely not real. 

“Kill me now,” Weiss mutters, even as she settles in beside Ruby and reaches for her scroll. 


	2. Two.

The Shimmer Couples Resort is both incredibly fancy and incredibly tacky. It’s this tropicana-themed country club in the middle of Atlas, near the academy, where stupidly wealthy couples go to drink, play tennis, soak in hot tubs, and disappear, apparently. 

It’s surprisingly easy getting their names on the list. They didn’t even need Weiss and her strings. All they needed to say was that they were a Huntress couple from Vale looking to escape the daily, deadly grind. The tall waif of a woman who shows them around is named Gossamer. 

"We have an award-winning spa with all sorts of couples treatments. But you must be sure to book in advance." She looks back at Yang and Blake, as if to confirm they’re following. Yang’s hand is warm and her grip firm. They’d reached for each other on instinct when they entered. It wasn't even part of the ruse. It was more of a "this place is strange and I'm here and we're safe together" sort of thing. At least, that's how Blake reads it. Of course, the resort staff see their joined hands and smile knowingly. Blake resists the self-conscious urge to pull away and Yang's grip just gets tighter. I'm here, it says. 

They've been following Gossamer around for almost 20 minutes when she turns to them. “And here’s where you’ll come down for breakfast. Of course, you can also order room service.” Gossamer smiles. “A lot of our couples don’t emerge until lunch.”

Blake can feel a blush creep up her neck, and Yang leans in to her, suddenly so close. “We’re totally morning people,” Yang assures Gossamer. “At least my little kittyboo here is. Isn’t that right, kittyboo?”

Yang's been going through ridiculous nicknames like she’s got some sort of internal generator, just spitting it out, and it takes everything for Blake to keep from rolling her eyes and shoving Yang into a palm tree. “That’s right…” Blake plasters a wide, adoring smile on her face, “Jujube.”

There’s a snort, followed by a crash and a shortish young woman in one of the resort’s skimpy hostess outfits stumbles out before them. “Sorry! I’m so…” She looks up at them and Blake chokes down a little gasp. Ruby’s cheeks are the same bright shade of red as her wig. She looks up at them with wide eyes. 

Gossamer clucks her tongue and gestures to the fallen tray. “Get this mess sorted out, now.”

“Y-yes, Gossamer. Sorry!” 

Gossamer turns to Blake and Yang. “With all the unrest, we’ve sadly lost a few of our regular staff and we’ve been forced to...make do. I assure you, this will not affect your stay with us.”

“That’s okay,” Blake watches Ruby scramble around. “She looks like a fast learner.”

Gossamer looks unconvinced. She pushes past her, leading them away and Yang turns to look back, presumably to make a face at Ruby. 

“Naturally, you’ll want a look at the rooms before we—”

Blake feels rather than hears Yang sigh. She gets it. The tour is long and Gossamer is exhausting. They’d both rather get to sleuthing than continue to listen to the “proud history” of Shimmer Couples Resort. Blake says, “Actually, we’re good. We’re just so impatient to settle in. I’m sure you get it.” She slips an arm around Yang's waist and pulls her close, her fingers pressing against the material of Yang’s jacket. Yang's body is solid and warm against her. It's almost annoying how well they fit together, how easy it is to pretend. 

Something else crashes behind them. And there's a distant yell of “Don't worry, I caught it!"

Gossamer pointedly ignores it and ushers them towards the lobby, where they entered. “Not to worry. Our check-in desk is just through here. Be sure to mention to Takashi that you’re our new Huntress couple. We like to...reward those in service.” She smiles before swanning off to presumably lure the next unsuspecting couple into this perfectly perfect paradise. 

Takashi is an older gentleman. He's wearing a tailored suit the same color as his grey goatee, and looks like he’s been doing this for years. “Ah, Miss Black and Miss Gold.” Not exactly subtle, but Weiss had said to keep it simple. “A pleasure." The smile he affixes them is practiced and professional. "We are pleased to be able to upgrade you to the Royal Lovers suite. It’s our most exclusive room. Private and luxurious. Away from the activity—”

The activity is exactly where they need to be. Yang turns to Blake, obviously thinking the same thing. “Oh, we don’t mind being in the centre of it all.” She offers Takashi her most charming smile. “We’re used to noise.”

“Well, that’s precisely why we’d like to offer you the reprieve. Your suitcases are already on their way up.” His smile tightens. 

"Is this where the other Huntsman couples stayed?" Blake asks, and Takashi frowns. 

"Pardon me, Miss Black, but we've not been honored with any other Huntsman pair this season. You and Miss Gold are the first." 

"Oh." Blake looks at Yang. "Isn't that wonderful…Honeycakes? We're the first." She's totally getting the hang of this pet name thing. 

"Wonderful is one word for it," Yang agrees. "So Takashi, my dude. How do we get to our room from here? It's been a long trip from Vacuo.“ Ozpin had thought up their cover story. He was right when he said they shouldn't have any ties to Haven. Being in Atlas, the resort would undoubtedly know that the Schnee heir had gone to Beacon. So instead, they were a couple from Shade Academy in Vacuo, who were visiting family in Mantle when they heard of the resort in Atlas. A believable journey, Blake hopes. 

Takashi gives them a sympathetic nod. “Of course, of course." He turns and picks a keycard from the counter. "You’ll have access to the entire resort. Except the spa. You’ll have to make an appointment to visit the spa.”

He hands Yang their keycard and offers them directions to their room. The card is bright green and says SHIMMER. Not for the first time, Blake wonders why this sort of place exists in frigid Atlas and not, say, in a tropical spot like Vacuo. Or maybe that was the point, to bring something warm and vibrant into Atlas’s austere climate. 

The elevator doors ding close and Blake is suddenly very aware of her hand in Yang’s. They’re on their own now. They can drop the act. She doesn’t have to be standing this close, or holding Yang’s hand, or thinking of how good it feels to be alone together. And yet… 

She steals a glance at Yang, who catches her and wrinkles her nose. “This is weird, huh?”

“Yeah, a little.” Blake does eventually extricate her hand to run her fingers through her hair. She wants to say more, something to alleviate the heavy, twisty knot of feelings in her stomach. There is so much she wants to say, but then the elevator stops and they wander out into something like a dream. 

The elevator doors open directly into a room. A very, very big room. Blake isn’t a stranger to nice things. She didn’t grow up like Weiss or anything, but Ghira’s position in the community meant that they were always a little more than comfortable. But this, this is something else. 

The large fountain in the middle of the room depicts a couple dressed like huntsmen, wrapped around each other in some sort of strange embrace. Water shoots out of one figure’s arrow. They slowly circle the thing until Yang concludes, “This is fucking nuts.”

Blake agrees. 

The front entrance leads into the master bedroom, dominated by a large circular bed. It’s big enough to sleep their entire team and half of team JNR. Blake thought she might feel awkward, walking into this romantic room that she’s supposed to share with Yang, but she doesn’t. They’ve been so close for so long, living under, over, and beside each other, that the idea of sleeping in that ginormous bed is less intimidating than she’d expected. 

Yang, for her part, is uncharacteristically silent, and Blake assumes she’s taking it all in. 

Their suitcases have been neatly deposited beside the bed and Blake reaches for a note on the gold coffee table. “Enjoy your time at Shimmer. You deserve it.” She flips it over and reads the back. 

“Dinner at Shimmer is like nothing you’ll ever experience.” 

“Huh.” Yang is suddenly so close to her, her chin digging into Blake’s shoulder as she reads the note from behind. “I guess we know where the action’s happening. I wonder if Weiss is speaking before or after dinner, because I could use a drink or two before she spends like five hours talking about Dust.”

“We’re supposed to use the distraction to canvas the place.” Yang is so close, Blake can feel the heat of her breath as she speaks. Talk about distraction. “We, uh…” She rereads the note as if something new might show up, trying to prolong the moment. “We need to check out the spa.”

“Hmm.” Yang hums and a gentle vibration runs down Blake’s spine. She wonders if she imagines Yang’s sharp inhale. Have they ever been this close before? “I got weird vibes from that place too.”

“So...” Ever so slightly, Blake leans back and feels the pressure of Yang’s fingertips against her hips. Neither of them say anything about what’s happening. About the fact that she’s melting into Yang, who is there to catch her and make sure she doesn’t disappear completely. “I guess there’s a reason they don’t want us there unmonitored.”

“Totally a reason,” Yang’s grip tightens. Blake knows that if she moves her head just a fraction, if she turns just so, she’d have her mouth fully against Yang’s. The idea exhilarates her. The idea terrifies her. 

All at once, it feels like her heart is too big for her body and it’s climbing up her throat, trying to crawl its way out of her mouth and admit something she’s not ready to admit. 

“We should contact the others.” Blake straightens and walks forward towards the bed. 

If Yang’s confused, she doesn’t show it. “Cool.” 

She walks past Blake, flops down on the bed, and raises her scroll above her head. “We know Ruby and Jaune are here, but what about—shit!”

“What’s wrong?” Blake comes to sit beside her. The mattress is, unsurprisingly, incredibly comfy. 

“My scroll is busted.” Yang turns it to show Blake. There’s a flashing no signal sign across the screen.

“Do you think that’s intentional?”

“They were insistent we take this room,” Yang replies. “Could be intentional.” 

“Which means they’re either really serious about that relax and retreat policy, or they don’t want us contacting the outside.” Blake sighs and falls back against the mattress. She can’t even fight it anymore—they way they’re drawn to each other, sucked into each other's orbit. Yang turns over, elbow up, face in her palm. She looks down at Blake, but doesn’t say anything. Yang never pushes, never asks for too much. Sometimes Blake wishes she’d ask for more. 

“Do you think they’re okay?” Blake eventually asks. “Ren and Nora?”

“Yeah, they’re fine.” Yang says this with absolute certainty. “They protect each other.”

Like us, Blake wants to say, but the words don’t leave her mouth. She only sighs. It’s a deep sigh. One that reminds her how utterly exhausted she is. She closes her eyes and feels Yang’s fingers push her hair back behind her ear. 

“You okay?” Yang’s voice seems to come from so far away. 

“Yeah, just…”

“I know.”

Blake blinks her eyes open. Yang does know. 

She watches Yang watching her. Sometimes it hurts to look at Yang, at her boldness, her brightness. It hurts to see it and want it. More, Blake knows, than she’s ever wanted anything else. And with all that light, how could she not feel like a mere shadow. A shadow of someone who killed a man. 

“Do think it’ll always be like this?” Her voice comes out soft and rough. 

Yang’s hand doesn’t stray from her hair. She strokes it lightly, like this is something they do. Like this is perfectly normal. “Be like what?”

“The fighting and planning and… It feels so long since we’ve had a moment to just breathe, you know? It’s like we’re constantly on the verge of a war we can’t stop. Does the weight of the world ever get lighter?”

Yang’s quiet for a long time, and then she says, “You know, when I was little, I so wanted to be a huntress. I wanted to fight the bad guys and kick butt and I thought I’d get all these prizes, you know? Fame, fortune, beautiful women.” Her small laugh is humorless. “I guess real life isn’t like that.”

“Sometimes the bad guys win.”

“Sometimes, but not always.” 

Yang’s fingers trace a slow, soft line across Blake’s forehead and she reaches up, taking Yang’s hand in hers. Cool, smooth metal. Yang’s thumb strokes a steady path up and down the inside of Blake’s palm.

Blake wants to ask what they’re doing. She wants to ask what they are to each other, and where this is going. Mostly, she wants to ask Yang to kiss her. 

Instead she says, “Hey, do you want to go to dinner with me?”

Yang’s face breaks into a grin that is all sunlight. “I thought you’d never ask.”


	3. Three.

Blake stands in the entrance of the lavishly decorated ballroom and immediately notices two things. One: there are a lot more people here than she first thought. Couples of all shapes and sizes, humans and faunus, grace the dance floor and canoodle at intimately lit booths. It feels like a weird love cult. Two: Getting away unseen is going to be harder than they’d first thought. There are “ushers” at each of the doors, presumably to help with anything one might need, but they’re big and intimidating, and Blake definitely sees the grip of some sort of weapon sticking out of one of their pockets.

“Weird that a hippie-dippie chill retreat needs all this muscle.” Yang leans in to murmur and Blake catches the sweet honeysuckle smell of the soap from their huge bathroom. 

They’d done some more exploring of the room, only to find it stocked with all sorts of fancy nonsense. Soaps, shampoos, lotions. She can’t deny that it felt like heaven on the skin, especially under a rain shower after days of using their tiny communal bathroom. But there’s guilt in the comfort.

Blake can’t wrap her head around the fact that people actually paid for this insane level of luxury while Mantle is cold, starved and suffering below them. The injustice of it infuriates her. 

The feeling of Yang’s fingers on her back jolts her from her thoughts. “You look like someone hid your favorite ball of yarn.” She yawns and half-covers her mouth with the back of her hand. “Sorry.” She looks a little sheepish. “I am weirdly tired.”

“I know what you mean. It’s been a long day.” 

“Come on.” Yang offers her arm. “We’re here, right? Let’s have some fun.” 

Blake allows herself a smile. Yang’s right. She’s also beautiful. 

Weiss had taken them shopping that morning, and eventually they’d managed to find a few things in a thrift store in downtown Atlas. Not a place she had previously frequented, Weiss was quick to share. Blake hadn’t seen Yang’s dress until she’d put it on for the evening. It was a flirty little cocktail dress in a hue that was just a touch darker than her eyes. There was a softness about it that made Blake’s heart do all kinds of fluttery things. 

“Less talking.” Yang plucks a flute of something golden and bubbly off a server’s tray and hands it to her. “More drinking.”

The liquid tickles her throat, sweet and cold, and Blake finds her next smile to be genuine. “I think I can get on board with that plan.” 

She takes Yang’s arm and they make their way further into the ballroom. The lights are warm and dusky, and create a sort of dreamy atmosphere. Booths and tables are arranged around the edges of the room for people to sit. The middle of the floor is reserved for dancing. The brass band on the stage is playing something light and bouncy, and Blake finds her shoulders bopping along. 

Yang leans down and says something, but the music’s too loud and Blake has to turn to hear her. “Wha—”

Their noses brush, and it’s almost awkward, but Yang laughs and moves her cheek past Blake’s. “I asked if you know when Weiss is coming on.”

“Oh.” She thought Yang might have asked something else. “I’m not sure.” She gulps down the last of her drink and tries not to choke on it as a server approaches them with a tray. 

“Hor d'oeuvre, ma’am?”

Jaune, in coattails and a slicked back-hair, grins and winks at them with all the subtlety of a Grimm in a china shop. 

“Guys,” he stage-whispers as he nears. “It’s me.”

“Yes.” Blake lifts her eyebrows. “We know.”

“Wow.” Yang swaps her empty glass for a full one from Jaune’s tray. “You clean up nice.”

“Why thank you.” He takes a little bow and the glasses rattle precariously. “Ruby was really mad that I got the one to do the hor d’oeuvre line. Although, I haven’t been able to contact her since we got separated. Have your scrolls been on the fritz too?” 

“We thought it was just us,” Blake says. “Just in our room.”

“Nah. The signal comes and goes. I got one angry text from Ruby and that’s it. I’ve just been going along with whatever the head server tells me to do.”

“Well, you’re doing a great job,” Yang states.

Jaune smiles. Blake rolls her eyes so hard they threaten to fall from their sockets. “Could you two maybe stop grinning at each other and try not to blow our cover?”

Yang straightens and clears her throat. “Yes. Indeed. Thank you, complete stranger. For this wonderful beverage.”

“It was an honor, madam. Truly an honor.” Jaune does another stupid little bow and whispers, “Come find me if anything changes,” before shuffling off. 

“You’re terrible at this,” Blake announces, unable to keep the laughter from her voice. 

Yang turns to her. “I happen to think I’m doing a pretty good job of pretending to be into you.” 

Blake makes a non-committal sound and shrugs a shoulder. “I don’t know. You haven’t even asked me to dance yet. I feel like I’m doing all the work here.” Why is her heart beating so fast? It’s beating so fast. 

Yang brings her hand to her heart in mock-offence and then crosses her arms over her chest and oh, challenge accepted. Blake recognises this pose. “Well...maybe they haven’t played the right song yet. Maybe I wanted another drink first. Maybe I’m waiting for the exactly the right moment so that—”

“Come on.” Blake takes Yang’s glass and puts it down before tugging her towards the dance floor. “The right moment is now.”

And of course, of course this is the moment that the band decides to “slow things down.”

Blake’s ears twitch and turn down the way they sometimes do when she’s feeling sheepish. It’s hard keeping up the bravado when Yang is smirking at her, all eyes and mouth and dimples. 

“See?” Yang murmurs. “The perfect song.”

The lights dim even more and couples flock to the dance floor like Ruby to a candy store or Weiss to a belt sale. Blake finds herself pressed up against Yang’s body, against smooth skin over taut muscles. Her arms loop around Yang’s neck and, again, that sweet scent of honeysuckle. 

They’re swaying more than dancing, pushed closer by the other undulating bodies. Blake is aware of everything at once. A little sigh escapes Yang’s mouth when Blake looks up at her and, for a moment, it all falls away. The world is not ending, they didn’t just kill someone, everything is not hopeless. Here, at this moment, everything is infinite. 

“You know what this reminds me of?” Yang’s fingers tail up Blake’s back and she shivers. She is tired. The idea of laying her head against Yang’s shoulder and sleeping for an age is tempting.

Instead she answers. “The Beacon dance?”

Yang nods. “Weird to think of it now. Like school was a movie that I watched a long time ago.” 

“I was really happy that night,” Blake recalls. “I’m glad you got me to go.”

“With Sun.”

Blake waits until she’s sure Yang’s looking at her. “I went for you.”

Yang’s watching her with that intense expression she sometimes gets, like she’s daring herself to do something. Blake feels herself lean in. She knows that if she does, Yang will understand that she wants it too, that she needs it just as much. She wonders if that thrumming in her ears is her own heart or Yang’s. It doesn’t really matter. They’re so close, and this feels so right, and—

The lights go on. 

Or, at least, they brighten. Blake blinks. 

The sound of a finger tapping a microphone has all eyes turning towards the stage. Couples have stopped dancing, and those in the booths have come onto the floor to see the speaker. 

Standing on stage is a short, pretty woman in a two-piece suit. Her wild ginger hair reminds Blake of a bushfire. 

“Good evening, beautiful lovers!” The woman begins with a smile, and the room breaks into applause. Yang joins in. “Some of you may know me,” the woman continues, “as Ember. I’ve been a hostess with the retreat from the beginning. My sister Gossamer and I are here for all of your waking desires.”

Yang pulls a face and Blake wonders exactly what Gossamer and Ember do in this place. 

“As promised, we have a delightful key speaker tonight!”

More applause, as Ember holds out her hand to someone in the wings. “Here we go,” Yang mutters out of the corner of her mouth. 

“Introducing Wellness Guru and Sex Therapist, Lazlow Sutra!” 

The tall bronze goddess of a woman with cheetah-esque ears and a tail who steps on stage is decidedly not Weiss Scnhee. 

Blake automatically brings her hands up to clap and then drops them. 

“Who is—?”

“Where is Weiss?” 

They turn to each other with identical expressions of confusion. 

Blake watches Yang surreptitiously pull her scroll from her cleavage, and tries her best not to get distracted. 

“Fuck,” Yang mutters and Blake guesses that their signal is still muddled. 

The goddess on stage begins the usual pleasantries about how excited she is to be there. Wordlessly, Blake and Yang begin to move backwards, out of the crowd. 

Something is obviously very wrong. 

Once they’re off to the side, Blake turns to Yang. “What now?” It’s a useless question and Yang predictably shrugs. In a party dress, without a weapon, Blake feels naked. Her fingers twitch, reaching for the phantom grip of Gambol Shroud. 

“Maybe if we—” She’s cut off at the sound of the double doors bursting open. A young man, dripping wet and naked, stumbles into the ballroom. Yang’s first instinct seems to be to go to him, but Blake puts a hand on her shoulder. 

The guests in the front of the ballroom, near the stage, look on in horror and confusion. If this is a party trick, no one else seems to be in on it. 

“It’s the spark,” the man utters, looking wildly around the room. “The spark, he wants the spark.”

“Someone needs to help him.” Yang takes a step forward. Blake is right behind her. It might blow their cover to help, but everyone else is just standing there, gaping. 

But the sound of rapid footsteps echo down the hallway and a rotund old man rushes in and covers the naked man in a blanket. Two ushers appear as if from nowhere and escort him out, as he rambles on and on about sparks and bars. She half expects them to whip out a straitjacket to contain him. 

The older man faces the crowd. He reminds Blake of a toad—squat and round. “My friends,” he begins. “Apologies for the interruption! It seems that dear fellow awoke from a spa treatment horribly disoriented. Any one of you who has fallen under the spell of our magical masseuse’s fingers knows how that can be.” 

The crowd titters and Yang shoots Blake a look of disbelief. 

“Enjoy the rest of your evening. And my special apologies to the lovely Miss Sutra.” He smiles a wide, toothy grin. “I will leave you to continue educating and entertaining these wonderful folks.”

On stage, Lazlow Sutra nods at him before continuing her speech. They watch the old man briskly walk off as if nothing had ever happened.

“So, that was all shades of weird. I’m guessing that whatever they do in that spa is not limited to hot stone massages.”

Blake looks around the room. Most of the crowd has their attention back on the stage. “We need to get in there.”

Before Yang can say anything, her cleavage pings and she pulls out her scroll. 

“You finally manage to get a signal in there?”

Yang’s lips curl up for just a moment. “It’s Ruby. She says to meet her behind the kitchen.”

“We can get there from the lobby.”

____

Lazlow Sutra is discussing the easiest way to get your partner to multiple orgasms. 

The ushers shoot them knowing looks as they hastily make their way to elevators and Blake wants to tell them that she wishes, but they have more important things to do. They go up to a random floor, and then take the stairs back down to the first. Anyone watching would have assumed they went straight up to their room. With everyone in the ballroom, they manage to get to the kitchens unseen and slip out the back. 

Ruby is waiting for them. She’s still in her uniform from earlier, but the wig is gone and she seems to have accumulated some stains since then. 

“Yang!” She throws herself at Yang in a hug, as if they’d last seen each other weeks ago. 

“Woah,” Yang pats her sister’s back. “You okay, Rubes?”

“Am I okay?” Ruby’s voice goes shrill. “Are you guys okay?” Her eyes dart between them. “Once you went up to your room, we figured out that our scrolls won’t work in the main building, so there was no way of contacting you. We found Nora, or...she found us.”

Blake and Yang talk over each other, rattling off questions. “What? Where? What about Ren?”

“We don’t know.” Ruby sounds truly miserable. “After my training this afternoon, I went back. Nora had shown up just a few minutes before me. She was feverish and mumbling stuff about Ren and sparking. She kept saying the name Greenwitch before passing out. She was still asleep when I came back here to find you.”

“Sparking. The spark.” Yang frowns. “That’s what the naked guy said.”

Blake makes a little noise of frustration. “What does it mean?”

“Oscar said nothing good. Ozpin might come and go, but Oscar still has his memories. He said if Gerhard Greenwitch is involved, we’re in trouble. He knows him from before. Greenwitch is an alchemist, obsessed with the mystical properties of Dust, and, like, a gazillion years old.” 

“The toad,” Blake says suddenly. “The man who came in after the naked guy.”

Ruby makes a face. “What’s been going on in there?”

“You think that’s Greenwitch,” Yang deduces. 

“Uncle Qrow says you guys should get out. You can’t stay here if we can’t contact you. It’s too dangerous.”

Yang shakes her head. “Not without Ren. We can’t leave him.”

“They’re talking about getting Ironwood involved,” Ruby says. “This is bad, Yang.”

“We’ll stay the night,” Blake says. She doesn’t want to stay, not really. Everything here feels wrong, off-kilter somehow. Like the whole resort is a funhouse mirror and they can’t stop staring. Part of Blake wants to go back to their dusty retirement home and crash on her small, hard bed. She’s so tired. But she imagines Nora. Feverish, broken, and without Ren. It feels wrong to leave. It feels wrong to go back and tell Nora that they left him here. If it was Yang… “

“We’ll stay,” she says again, her voice firm. “Just in case we can find anything new.” 

Ruby looks torn. “Uncle Qrow said—”

“Hey. Ruby,” Yang bends down slightly to look at her. “We’ll meet here tomorrow morning, okay? We’ll check in with you. But you know we can’t leave if Ren is still here. Nora would never forgive us.”

Ruby sighs. “I’ll tell the others you’re safe and decided to stay. But you have to meet me here tomorrow morning. My shift starts at 7 a.m., so just before that.”

“Deal.” Yang pulls her in for a hug, and Ruby looks at Blake over her shoulder. 

“Be safe, okay?” Ruby eventually extricates herself from the hug and looks at them both. “Oh, and Weiss sent a message. We didn’t think it was safe for her to come tonight, but she says to tell you, if you haven’t, just do it already.” Even in the dark, Blake can make out the slow blush that spreads over Ruby’s cheeks. “Can’t imagine what she’s talking about.”

“Okay, okay,” Yang swats Ruby on the arm. “Get out of here. We can’t be seen cavorting with the help.” 

“Don’t be late.” Ruby slinks back into the shadows, leaving them alone.


	4. Four.

By the time they get back to their room, it’s almost midnight. Neither Blake nor Yang says much as they shimmy out of their dinner clothes. They’ve spent long enough in a dorm room and on the road that getting undressed in front of each other is not a particularly novel thing. Blake comes back from the bathroom to find Yang in her sweats, perched on the edge of the ocean of a bed. 

“You okay?” 

“Yeah.” Yang yawns and stretches. “Just really tired, you know?”

“I know.” Blake rolls her shoulders. They feel stiff and tense. “You want to wait an hour or so and then head back out? We could try and get into the spa?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Yang stretches her arms out in front of her and cracks the fingers on her one hand. “By then all the couples should be tucked up in bed doing coupley stuff.”

Blake sits beside Yang. The mattress is soft and inviting. “What better time to go sleuthing?” Her head drops against Yang’s shoulder and Yang falls back, taking Blake with her. The bed bounces a little. 

“Maybe just a little nap before then?” Yang yawns again. 

“A nap.” Blake nuzzles closer, Yang’s hair tickles her nose, but she’s too tired to move it out of the way. “You smell like honeysuckle,” Blake murmurs before falling into a deep, heavy sleep. 

____

Yang’s shoulder is cold against her cheek. It’s chalky and hard. Blake blinks and immediately squints against the sharp fluorescent glow. The light makes her head ache, as if someone’s taken a pickaxe to her temple. Blake wants to speak, to call out, but her mouth’s dry. She blinks again and opens her eyes fully. 

Blurry figures smooth out as the world comes into focus. The pain in her head doesn’t subside, but she’s able to make sense of her surroundings. White walls, stainless steel tables, and sinks hint at a laboratory of some kind. Blake sits up. She notices the bars now. Thick metal bars all around her. There’s a little trough for water and an empty bucket that makes her want to vomit. It’s a glorified rat cage. 

“Miss Belladonna! Good morning! Welcome to the Spa!” 

A heaviness settles in Blake’s stomach. She knows who that voice belongs to. 

“So glad you’ve decided to join us!”

Gerhard Greenwitch is standing between her cage and another. Behind him she catches a glimpse of bright, golden hair strewn across the floor. 

“Yang!” Her mouth is dry and the name gets stuck in her throat. 

“Don’t worry about Miss Xiao Long. She’ll be with us soon.” 

Greenwitch is as round and toad-like as Blake remembers him from earlier, except now he’s in a white lab coat. He’s a caricature of a mad scientist. 

“What…” she clears her throat. “What have you done to us?” 

“Done to you?” Greenwitch takes a step towards the cage. “Why, Miss Belladonna, I’ve done nothing.”

Blake manages to get up. Her stomach churns as she stands, fighting down a wave of nausea. 

“Oh, that’s the tranquilizer,” Greenwitch says, watching her struggle. “The effects will wear off with time.”

“You drugged us.” Standing is hard, but she refuses to fall back down. 

“A little honeysuckle, a little chamomile, a touch of valerian, and, yes, a little sedative I concocted here in my lab. Makes for a lovely smelling soap, does it not? You should thank me. The slow release means that you were able to enjoy the evening before the effects took hold.” He smiles widely. “I like to give couples at least one night to themselves.”

“This is...insane.” Blake pinches the bridge of her nose. “You’re insane.”

It’s then when she sees the other two cages. Four in total. She and Yang are directly opposite from each other, and the other two look recently occupied. 

“Where’s Ren?” Tendrils of panic stretch through her body. “I know you had them here. Ren and Nora.”

To her surprise, Greenwitch laughs. “The redhead was quite a handful. It took her a while to realize that these bars cannot be broken through. An iridium titanium composite I created myself.” He says it proudly. Blake wants to punch him. 

She doesn’t look at Yang, still on the floor behind Greenwitch. She doesn’t wonder why she’s not awake yet, or if they hurt her. She tries not to imagine them dragging Yang’s body into the cage and leaving her on that cold, hard floor. 

She grits her teeth. “Where. Is. Ren?”

“Lie Ren hurt himself getting his friend out of here. It was unfortunate, really. I was progressing nicely with them. On the verge of a breakthrough.”

“Is he…?”

“Oh, he’s alive,” Greenwitch assures her. “But right now he’s a distraction, and I want to focus all of my attention on you and your soulmate.”

Blake recoils. “My what?”

“Her what?” From behind Greenwitch, Blake watches Yang stand up on shaky legs. 

“Finally!” Greenwitch steps out of the way and Blake can see Yang. She’s swaying, like she’s a second away from falling down again. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to join us, Miss Xiao Long!”

“Yang, he’s crazy.” The words tumble out of Blake’s mouth. “And he’s got Ren.”

“One of those things is true,” Greenwitch steps away from their cages. “Curious, yes, but crazy? I’m an alchemist, Miss Belladonna. Science requires sacrifices.”

“I’m about to sacrifice you, you deranged beach ball!” Yang pulls at the bars, her knuckles going white at the effort. The screech of Yang’s prosthetic against the steel makes the hairs on Blake’s neck stand on end. 

“Yang, it’s no use,” Blake calls out, as Yang tries punching through the bars. The piercing sound of metal against metal reverberates through the empty room, but the bars hold. 

“You see I left you your artificial limb. I suspect it helps with your semblance. Although I wouldn’t try using it in these structures.” He points up to a jagged blue crystal tied with string to the top corner of the cage. “Another one of my inventions. The Dust crystal inhibits your semblance. You will perform only when I demand it.”

After another minute of pummeling the bars, Yang finally stops fighting. She’s damp with sweat and panting from the exertion. Blake’s fingers curl around the bars. She wants to go to her, to wipe her wet hair off her brow and kiss the blooming bruise on Yang’s cheek. 

“What does my semblance have to do with any of this?” Yang asks, breathing hard. 

Greenwitch steps back even further and points to the spot where he’d been standing. Blake hadn’t noticed it before. She’s been so focused on the whole captivity of it all. In the space between her and Yang’s cages, is a round, slightly elevated platform, like a small helipad or rink. 

Greenwitch’s voice is trembling with excitement. “The platform acts as a conduit for the spark. It’s where it will show itself.”

“Where _what_ will show itself?” Blake asks, exhausted by the riddles and the cryptics. 

“The spark, of course!” Greenwitch claps his hands together and looks between them as if he’s not spouting utter crazy talk. “The spark is what happens when your semblances combine.”

“I don’t know what sort of woo-hoo school in crazytown you attended, mister,” Yang says. “But that’s impossible.”

“Not” Greenwitch raises a finger, “if you are soul-bonded. The auras of soul-mates can create a special semblance. One that outlasts individual semblances. Of course it requires the right amounts of Dust, but the amount hidden in your soap is enough for us to get started. In a few days, we’ll have to get you some more. Can you imagine?” Greenwitch looks wistful. “If your aura is depleted in battle, you can still rely on the power of your joined auras. The third semblance—the spark!” 

“That’s why you want huntsman and huntress couples.” The realisation hits Blake. “You need people with confirmed semblances.”

“Miss Bladesure and her mate were incredibly promising. It’s a pity what they forced me to do. But I did find that adrenaline seemed to bring out their powers.”

“”Fraid you’re going to have trouble with that one,” Yang says. “We’ve seen things you can’t even imagine. And this, this is just a nice little break before our friends find us.”

“Is that so?” 

Blake doesn’t like the way he seems to rise to the challenge. She wants to tell Yang to shut up. But Yang is Yang and says, “In fact, I think I might go back to sleep until they get here. Although, for a spa, this place is like, minus two stars at most. You should think about some music, maybe a little incense.”

“ _Yang_ ,” Blake grits through her teeth. Don’t poke the bear, she wants to say. Especially if you’re the one in the cage.

“If it’s adrenaline you’re looking for, Miss Xiao Long, far be it for me to deny you.” He pulls a small tube from his pocket and flicks it. The tube extends and tapers until it’s several inches longer and crackling with blue light. Blake feels her stomach drop. 

“Please,” she finds herself calling out. Greenwitch is fast and Yang’s reflexes are slowed from the tranquilizer. The cattle prod touches her neck before she can move. The snapping sound of electricity against flesh is sickening and Yang’s scream echoes through the cavernous room. 

Blake realises she’s screaming too. Yang’s on her knees now and Blake can feel tears, hot and wet, streaming down her face. “Please,” she hears herself beg as if this was happening to someone else, as if she was watching it from afar. “Please, please don’t hurt her!” 

It’s over in a second, and the weapon is back in Greenwitch’s pocket. “There.” He smiles at them, almost sweetly, as if he had not just taken a cattle prod to Yang’s neck. “I hope that inspires you to have a better time here.” 

A sudden crash from a room somewhere in the back causes Greenwitch to curse. “I think your friend might be awake. Don’t go anywhere, now.” He winks at them before tottering out. 

The second he’s out of sight, Blake pushes herself against the bars. “Yang? Please. Talk to me.”

Yang is on her hands and knees, arched as though she might retch. 

“Yang?”

“I’m okay,” Yang croaks, holding up a hand. “He barely touched me.” Her hair is bright, but the glow is fading. 

“You can’t just…” Blake sighs in relief and frustration. “He could have done so much worse!”

“I’d like to see him try.” She coughs and sits up on her knees. 

They stare at each other in silence for a moment, the space between them a desert of everything unsaid. 

“We will get out of this,” Yang says weakly. “And Ruby. She knows that if we didn’t meet her, something is wrong.” 

“I know.” Blake tries for a smile, but her lips feel like jelly. “We’ve been through worse, right?”

“Yeah.” Yang nods fiercely, trying to convince herself as much as Blake. She exhales a heavy breath and rests her forehead against the bars. She suddenly looks so small, so young, and so far away. 

“Maybe he’ll let us go,” Blake suggests wildly. She’ll say anything now. Anything to keep that look of hopelessness from Yang’s eyes. “Once he realises we aren’t actually a couple. That we aren’t…”

“Soulmates?” Yang manages a weak laugh and coughs again. “Joke’s on him.”

“Do you think what he said is true? That some people can create a third semblance?”

“I don’t know.” Yang answers honestly. “Ruby said he’s old, that by rights he shouldn’t even be alive anymore. With everything we’ve learnt over the past year, I guess anything could be possible.”

Blake sits down and allows her chin to rest on her knees. She’s not sure how much time passes. When she looks back up, Yang’s lying on her back, facing Blake, with one arm flung out between the bars.

Despite the dire insanity of the situation, Yang winks at her and Blake feels herself smile. “I know it’s weird, but I was sort of excited about this mission. I was worried about Ren and Nora, of course, but also…” She trails off, unsure of what she’s trying to say. 

“I was excited too.” Yang’s voice is gentle and coaxing. “I didn’t know if…when you suggested we come together, I wasn’t sure if I was reading it right. It’s been…weird. With us. Since…for a long time actually. I didn’t know if you felt the way I...”

“I did.” Blake scoots closer until her knees are right against the bars and all she can see is Yang. “I do.” 


	5. Five.

The others have still not come to save them. No one has burst through the doors demanding their release. Midway through the afternoon, Yang attempts to punch through the bars again. She’s regrained her strength, but they don’t budge. Blake doesn’t tell her to stop until she punches so hard that she throws herself into the opposite side of the cage and falls with a heavy thud. The light from the small window changes three times before Greenwitch comes back.

It’s dark outside when he finally returns, dragging an unconscious Ren along with him. The old man is surprisingly strong for his stature, and again, Blake suspects that he’s more than he’s supposed to be. He unceremoniously drops Ren in the cage farthest from them.

Blake’s eyes flicker to Yang, but Yang does nothing to provoke him this time, only watches Greenwitch cautiously. She can be hotheaded, but her sense of self-preservation is pretty good.

“There we go.” Greenwitch shuts the cage door with a creak and a bang. “He should sleep that off.”

“What did you do to him?” Yang asks, her voice edged with fury.

“Just because I can no longer use him for a spark doesn’t mean he’s useless to me. Huntsmen make for fascinating specimens.” He turns to them. “You should get some rest. Tomorrow, once you’re stronger, the real work begins.” He flicks off the lightswitch and they’re thrown into semi-darkness. Blake’s eyes immediately adjust, but there’s enough moonlight that it isn’t entirely black.

There’s only so much Yang can take, and honestly, Blake can’t blame her. “By tomorrow, you’ll be halfway to an asylum. Once our team gets here—”

“Oh, that’s right.” Greenwitch smiles that infuriatingly sweet smile. “You think you’re still at the Shimmer Resort. I suppose your friends might have found us if you hadn’t been moved straight here. I hear they made a dreadful fuss at the place earlier today.”

The heaviness in the pit of Blake’s stomach grows as Yang’s face falls. They’re silent as Greenwitch leaves and bids them goodnight. There’s nothing more to say.

Except _fuck_. Which Yang says over and over again.

Blake finds herself pacing. The bars of the cage feel like they’re closing in. The sliver of light coming in from the window glints off something that makes her squint for a second. The crystal, like the one in Yang and Ren’s cages. Only hers is slightly bigger and slightly lower.

“Yang?” Blake tries to keep the hope from her voice. But it might be just low enough to reach. She jumps, angling her body _just so._

“What are you—”

It’s tied tightly around one of the bars, but if she can pull it hard enough, she might be able to… “Got it!”

The crystal is cold and heavy in her palm. “Look,” she holds it out for Yang to see and then, without warning, it dissolves into Dust. Blake’s little yelp of surprise has Yang smiling.

“That was awesome.”

“Thanks,” Blake breathes out, wiping her hand on her thigh. “I think I might be able to teleport out of the cage.”

“Can you _do_ that?” Yang sounds confused. “I thought your clones were just, like, projections.”

“I’ve done it before,” Blake says, thinking back to her fight with Ilia. “I don’t know if I can do it again, but…”

“It’s worth a shot.”

“Okay,” Blake nods, steeling herself. “I’m gonna aim for the door. Maybe I can find a way to get out.”

“You’ve got this.”

Blake closes her eyes and concentrates. It’s weird trying to use her semblance when they’re not in the heat of battle, without the urgency. Except there is urgency. In her mind’s eye, she sees Ren lying unconscious on the ground, and Yang in a cage—Yang whose light is dulled, whose energy is wasted. She hears the sound of Yang’s scream as electric current ripped through her, and sees her on her knees, exhausted and defeated. There is urgency and they are fighting for their lives. Blake feels the familiar tug as her clone manifests and she is pulled into a different space entirely.

“Uh. Maybe you don’t totally have this teleportation thing down completely.”

She feels, rather than hears, Yang’s voice and Blake’s eyes fly open. She’s in a cage. She’s in Yang’s cage.

Blake turns around. Her own cage, the one _without_ the semblance inhibitor, is now empty. “I… um… fuck.”

Blake utters a little growl of frustration and runs both hands through her hair. It feels greasy, and she wonders if they’ll ever get to shower again. She wonders if they’re just doomed to die here the way Hana Bladesure did.

“I messed up. I thought I could find a key or something and I just made it worse. He’s going to find us, and… Greenwitch could hold us here indefinitely. Until we do whatever he wants us to do, or worse… we don’t. And who knows if we’ll ever see Weiss and Ruby again and how are the others supposed to focus on saving the world when they’re preoccupied with finding us? We can’t just forget about Salem and, and…

“Hey.” Yang’s voice finally reaches her and Blake finds herself pressed against Yang’s body. Yang’s arms are solid and warm around her and for the first time since she woke up and found herself in this nightmare, Blake feels like she’s actually breathing. “It’s okay,” Yang’s murmuring into her hair. “You’re okay. You didn’t mess up.”

“I couldn’t even get out of a cage,” Blake mumbles against Yang’s chest.

“Except you did.” Yang takes her by the shoulders and pushes her back just enough that they can see each other. “You got yourself in here. And now there are two of us. And together we’re tall enough to each that goddamn crystal and destroy it.”

“I guess I didn’t think of that.”

Yang smiles. “That’s because you’re a dummy.”

“Hey.” And Blake finds she’s smiling too. Despite it all.

“The smartest dummy I know.” Yang brings her forehead to Blake’s and they’re so close that when Yang sighs, Blake can feel it in her own chest. “I was gonna wait,” Yang whispers, biting down on her bottom lip, she way she sometimes does when she’s nervous. “I was gonna wait because I wanted it to be perfect. You deserve perfect.”

Blake doesn’t even think about it, when she pushes up and brings her mouth just a hair’s breadth away from Yang’s. “This is perfect.”

The kiss is soft and sweet and everything Blake had imagined it would be. She’s only imagined it a thousand times or so. She moves her hand up, to tangle in Yang’s mass of hair. Yang’s little moan encourages her to tug a little, deepening the kiss. Yang tastes exactly like Blake knew she would. Like sunshine on your skin after a day of swimming. It’s almost unnerving how well they fit. How easy this feels. It’s like fighting, like breathing.

Blake’s back hits the cold bars and she’s hit with the reality of where they are and what they’re meant to be doing. It all feels small in comparison, but they can’t exist in the sweetness of this kiss forever, and eventually, they break away for air.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for so long,” Yang admits, looking a little shy. It’s cute on her.

“Me too.” Blake closes her mouth over the bruise on Yang’s cheek, allowing her lips to linger for a moment. “Let’s get out of here so we can do it some more.”

“I like the way you think.” Before Blake can say anything more, Yang picks her up at the waist.

“What are you—?”

“Can you get it?” Yang asks, holding her just below the crystal.

Blake stretches up, but the crystal is tightly bound. “A little higher.”

After almost a minute of struggling, the knots come free and the crystal falls into her palm. Unlike the last one, it dissolves into powder almost immediately, as if holding back Yang’s semblance took all of its energy.

“Stand back,” Yang says, after lowering Blake. She draws both arms back and inhales. On the exhale, both arms shoot forward, fists against steel. They barely make contact, but the sheer force of Yang’s punch has the bars flying off their hinges. This time, the glow doesn’t fade.

“Come on,” Yang turns to Blake, who knows full well that this is not the time to be finding Yang’s pure physical prowess so hot. And yet…

They’re on the little platform between the two cages when Greenwitch rushes in. He’s so much faster than he should be. It’s creepy.

“What in the—” He takes in the scene and fumbles for the prod in his pocket. Without Gambol Shroud, Blake can’t do as much damage as she’d like, but she can do enough. They work in unison, their moves well-practised and intuitive. Without a word, they know that Blake will create a clone to distract Greenwitch and turn him around. That leaves Yang to come up behind him and tackle him down. He’s a small man, but deceptively fast and strong. They won’t take any chances.

Except, that isn’t how it plays out at all. Blake does create a clone, but it’s not the shadow clone she intended. This is a being of pure light, so intense that the entire room is thrown into brightness. It stands beside them. Greenwitch brings his arm up to shield his eyes.

“You did it!” He screeches in excitement. “The spark! You did it! I can’t believe—” Before he can say another word, their light clone takes two steps and punches him in the face.

He goes down with a heavy thump.

Blake turns to the clone, which shimmers between them. It seems to be fading now, its glow getting dimmer.

“What is it?”

“I think…” Yang tilts her head, unable to look away from the fading apparition. “I think it’s a third semblance. It’s like...an angry light shadow.” It’s almost completely gone when Yang reaches out to touch it. “And somehow, it’s ours.”

“Shadow rage.” Blake doesn’t know why she says it. The name comes to her from nowhere, but it feels right.

The light disappears entirely and they’re left staring at each other in wonderment.

Suddenly Greenwitch’s words come back to her and Blake feels the truth of it. A day ago, it would have been terrifying, but now all Blake feels is warmth.

Yang is staring at her with a softness that suggests she feels it too. “Does this mean—”

The doors explode open before Yang can finish her sentence. A small army led by Nora bursts in. Yang finally gets her guns ablazin’.

The ensuing chaos is…a lot. Once the rescue party determines that the threat has been neutralized, Weiss and Ruby run to them. Blake knows she’s being hugged, but she can’t quite tell just how many people are involved in it. In her periphery, she can see Nora attack Ren’s cage with her hammer. She and Jaune lay him on a table.

Qrow and Oscar have tied up Greenwitch. And the few ace operatives they’ve come in with are on walkie-talkies. Ace-operatives? How big did this thing get?

“How did you guys find us?” Yang mumbles with her cheeks being squished between Ruby and Weiss’s shoulders.

“Someone like Gerhard Greenwitch isn’t exactly subtle about his Dust shipments,” Weiss says, finally pulling out of the hug. “After we realized you weren’t at the resort, and Nora woke up to tell us more about this place, we were able to track him to this warehouse.”

“Great,” Blake looks around. “We spent the night in a creepy warehouse and didn’t even know it.”

“Eh,” Yang shrugs. “It could have been worse.”

“Are you kids all right?” Qrow saunters over to them. “From what Ozpin’s told me in the past, Greenwitch is a nasty guy. He was known for conducting...unethical experiments in the name of science.”

“We’re okay,” Yang says, her eyes on Blake. “We managed to knock him out before you arrived.”

“But that’s another thing.” Weiss frowns. “He’s supposedly untouchable.”

“It’s true.” Nora comes towards them. She has a black eye, and is limping, but otherwise seems recovered. They both hug her. “Every time Ren and me tried to hit the bastard, we got walloped by some sorta force-field. He kept going on and on about how we needed to trust each other. How only our ‘spark’ could break through.”

Blake can feel Yang’s eyes on her and finally turns to meet her gaze. When she holds out her hand, Yang takes it. “There’s something you guys should know…”

____

“SOULMATES?!” Ruby screams it for the hundredth time. The ride back to Atlas is...fun.

____

Ironwood wants to talk to them after the lab, but Qrow convinces him to let them rest. He also convinces him to get them better digs. Two days after they get out of the lab, they’re out of Mantle and set up at one of Ironwood’s facilities. It’s no Shimmer, but Blake will take it over any resort.

They’ve gone over the events from that night at least a dozen times. When they do, they skip over the kiss. That’s not data for some machine to record. That’s just for them. And Ruby, who won’t stop grinning at them. And Weiss who won’t stop rolling her eyes.

Honestly, it’s nothing new.

And at the same time, everything is new.

When Yang finds her, she’s on the floor of their common room with a book in her lap. Blake can’t even remember the title. She’s been reading the same sentence over and over for the past half hour.

“Hey.” Yang sits next to her. Shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip. “It’s super weird, isn’t it?”

Blake closes her book. “What?”

“Everyone freaking out about this.” Yang motions to the space between them. “Us. Like it’s some sort of mission strategy. Like we’re some sort of weapon.”

“It’s weird,” Blake admits. “I think everyone in Atlas now knows about my drug induced shower.”

Yang snickers. “Never thought I’d get stoned off soap. And yet here we are.” Yang waits a beat and then asks, “Is it too much?”

“I’m not going anywhere, if that’s what you’re asking.” She doesn’t say it defensively. “I’m in this. With you.” she trails off and intertwines her fingers with Yang’s. She lifts their joined hands up and brings them to her mouth to kiss Yang’s knuckles. It’s still sort of strange that she can just kiss Yang whenever she wants. Strange and amazing and wonderful. “And I suppose that night did prove one thing.”

“That you’re still not very good at teleportation?”

Blake knocks her shoulder against Yang’s causing her to fall over. They both laugh. “Wow. Rude.”

Yang sits back up and reaches out to tuck Blake’s hair behind her ear. “Okay. What did it prove?”

“That together, we’re invincible.”

Yang smiles her sunshine smile and leans in. “Huh. I think I already knew that.”

Blake can feel the smile against her lips and she sighs into the kiss. All at once, the weight of the world feels just a little lighter.

___

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby by Cigarettes After Sex
> 
> My eternal thanks to Care, who put up with my complaining and added some semi-colons.  
> ♥


End file.
